The presidential election results in 2000 will probably go down in history as the most contested results in American history, especially as the final outcome was so close and had to be ultimately decided by the Supreme Court.
The closeness of the result was unprecedented and it was made more controversial by the massive television and media coverage, which it prompted. There were constitutional provisions already established to deal with just such a situation that needed to be resolved before the next president could move into the White House. The position of president is the most powerful within the Federal Constitution, which is why presidential elections are so strongly contested. Indeed the separation of powers means that both Congress and the Supreme have constitutional responsibilities to settle disputed presidential election results like those of 2000 to ensure political stability in the country.
The presidential election of 2000 has thus far been the closest set of election results since the electoral college was established via the Federal Constitution at the end of the eighteenth century. The margin of victory or defeat in terms of the popular votes was a very slender one, with the candidate that gained the most votes actually losing in the electoral college. Indeed the Democratic party candidate, Senator Al Gore would have won the presidential election contest if it had been a straightforward poll between the two main contenders. Right across the United States, Al Gore received 337,576 votes more than the Republican nominee George W. Bush However, the outcome of the presidential election as always had to be decided through the electoral college process.
In 2000 the Supreme Court was called upon to fulfil its role of being a politically neutral arbiter of contested presidential election results to decide which votes were spoilt and which votes were not spoilt in the state of Florida. Besides deciding about the validity or other wise of ballot papers the Supreme Court also had to decide on how recounts were allowed. Those decisions would turn out to prove very controversial in the way in which the presidential election results of 2000 were finally settled.
The Republicans hoped that the Supreme Court would decide that none of the spoilt ballot papers were actually eligible votes, which should count. Not only did the Republicans want none of the spoilt ballot papers turned into votes, they also wished that the Supreme Court would only allow the barest minimum number of recounts in Florida. Conversely the Democrats argued that the Supreme Court should order that all the spoilt ballot papers be re-examined and that all necessary recounts should be allowed to reach the fairest possible results in Florida. Of course the opposing views of the Republicans and the Democrats were based around gaining the judgements that would maximise the chances of their respective candidates winning the presidential election.
The Supreme Court eventually made decisions that meant George W. Bush won the state of Florida, its electoral college votes and thus gained entry into the White House. The Democrats at the time complained about the Supreme Court being politically biased in favor of the Republicans, that bias was evident as the majority of the judges had right-wing political opinions that were similar to those of George W. Bush. Supreme Court judges are appointed in a process that involves Congress approving or rejecting nominations made by the president. Generally judges are known to have declared political allegiances, with the Supreme Court having a balance between Republican, Democrat and independent judges. As a result of President Reagan and Bush senior being able to have Republican judges appointed the political balance was definitely in George W. Bush’s favor when the issue of determining the Florida election result arose. Bush himself would increase the controversy surrounding the presidential election results of 2000 because of his more radically right-wing political views and subsequent policies once in the White House.
The presidential election of 2000 was without any doubt the most controversial contest for the White House yet experienced. It was only the fourth time when the presidential candidate with the lower share of the popular vote won the majority of electoral college votes. The presidential election of 2000 was the closest contest both in terms of the popular vote and the number of electoral college votes between Gore and Bush. In the end it was to be the vote in the state of Florida that decided the final out come. The contest in Florida had produced a much higher number of spoilt ballot papers than usual with the matter being referred to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court made decisions with regard to the eligibility of spoilt ballot papers and the number of recounts that put Bush into the presidency, with claims of the court being politically biased.
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